Avetik Chalabyan

Avetik Chalabyan (Armenian: Ավետիք Չալաբյան, born 21 November 1972) is an Armenian public figure and politician, the co-founder of the center-right National Agenda Party. Since 2012, he has been participating in a number of public initiatives in Armenia and since 2018 Chalabyan has been leading a number of opposition initiatives.

Biography
Avetik Chalabyan is a former senior partner of McKinsey & Company. He graduated from Yerevan State University with a master's degree in Theoretical Physics and received his MBA from the University of North Carolina. Chalabyan led McKinsey's Metallurgical Practice in CIS and Eastern Europe region from 2010 to 2015, and global Metallurgical Practice from 2015 to 2020. Later he was a supervisory board member of Metinvest, a large international metals and mining group based in Netherlands. Previously, he had also served as Head of the WTO Affairs Department at the Ministry of Economic Development of Armenia.

Chalabyan is a co-founder and a member of the board of trustees of Arar Foundation. He also serves as a board member in the Repat Armenia Foundation, and other social and philanthropic initiatives.

Public and Political activism
Chalabyan co-founded Repat Armenia in 2012, Arar Foundation in 2014 and National Agenda Party in 2018. After the 44-day war in 2020, he was involved in a number of opposition movement in Armenia, such as the "Unification" initiative implemented in support of Artsakh. Chalabyan was outspoken and critical about supporting and recognizing Artsakh, consolidation of Armenian diaspora, as well as building a stronger defense system to assure the sovereignty of the state.

Chalabyan was arrested on 12 May 2022, within the framework of a criminal case initiated under Article 163, Part 3, Clause 2 of the RA Criminal Code, which envisages liability for offering material interest to participate in a public rally. Judge Arusyak Aleksanyan of the Court of General Jurisdiction in Yerevan granted the investigator's motion to detain Chalabyan as a measure of restraint. The accusation against Chalabyan was based on one edited "secret recording, which is inadmissible evidence in the sense of the RA Criminal Procedure Code, in which Avetik Chalabyan apparently does not claim to offer material interest for participating in rallies."

"During the face-to-face interrogation the main witness insisted that Avetik Chalabyan had never offered him money or other material interest to participate in the rallies. In these conditions, Avetik Chalabyan was illegally charged, and the latter was arrested by an illegal court decision. It is clear that the arrest of Avetik Chalabyan is of punitive nature", stated Chalabyan's attorney.

Chalabyan is accused of the act provided for in Article 163, Part 3, Clause 2 of the RA Criminal Code (offering material interest to participate in public rallies). Judge Armen Danielyan of the Yerevan Court of Criminal Appeals refused to release Chalabyan from prison, upholding a lower court ruling. "Armenia Investigative Committee possesses facts, evidence proving Avetik Chalabyan's innocence," said the defendant. Chalabyan was released in August 2022 on bail by judge Ruzanna Barseghyan of Court of Appeals.

In December 2023 Court of General Jurisdiction in Yerevan found guilty Chalabyan for the accusation and decided to ban him from participating in rallies and other public events as well as from changing his place of residence without informing relevant law enforcement for a period of thirty months. Chalabyan and his attorneys claimed the judgement is absurd, and will be appealed.

The US Embassy in Armenia included Chalabyan's case in 2022 Human Rights Report as an example of arbitrary arrest by the local authorities.

In May 2023, Chalabyan co-initiated the civil-legislative initiative Hayakve (Armenian Vote) being the coordinator of its operating headquarters.

Personal life
Avetik Chalabyan is married and has four children.